previously published on Asian Movie Pulse
What to make of a movie when undeniable technical skills, advanced CGI and a budget of (reportedly) 1 billion yuan (around $150 million) cross paths with the intentions to make a propaganda movie about the Chinese superiority (moral and otherwise) in the clash with the decadent West? Or, to reformulate the question, how to respond to a movie in which the propaganda speaks the language of a movie spectacle? Because Dante Lam’s “Operation Hadal” is a stark example of the case.
Coming as the third instalment of Lam’s unofficial “Operation” serial, and uniting two of the common places of his filmography (military action flicks and maritime surroundings), “Operation Hadal” tells the story of the conflict between the brave Chinese commando unit and the rogue Western mercenaries. The latter have taken over the offshore platform as an integral part of a bigger plot that includes nuclear submarines and underwater bases, while the former try to regain the control of their facilities. After the first clash on the platform, the action moves underwater, with a risk of both the nuclear and the volcanic explosion.
As one could imagine, it is “one battle after another” kind of plot, garnished with the political propaganda preaching, even with quotes by Mao, for the whole runtime of nearly 150 minutes. There are some nice touches of spectacle, like jetpacks and robo-dogs, but they can do the trick only for a while. Although the visual effects are not of the cheap kind and they look solid, while the action is decently depicted by the altering approaches of quick-cut close-up combat and rotating panning shots that provide some sense of the space, it becomes tiresome and borderline tedious before too long.
The reason for that lies in sub-par work by Lam and his co-writer Zhi Yaqing in the characters department, as they never pass the level of rough sketches that either speak in the military jargon or try to connect with each other in the most stereotypical ways. There is little distinction between the “good guys” beyond their position in the formation, as they are all good and just and brave, and the actors either do not have the skill or the liberty to imbue them with any sense of personality. Contrary to them, the “bad guys” are either cartoonishly evil or cowardly and treacherous. Those might be the reasons why the complete memory of them (and the whole film actually) disappears only minutes after the end of the screening.
Sure, this is the matrix that was established a long time ago in a completely different part of the world. Namely, in Hollywood since its beginning when the characters’ alignment could be determined by the colour of the hats they wore. In more modern times, the matrix was kept only in the B-movies, but they were fronted by charismatic stars. The cinema of the communist countries took the matrix and imbued it with the ideology in order to make propaganda movies to serve the purpose of social cohesion in glorifying the collective efforts in wars, real or imaginary. The examples are numerous in the former USSR, Yugoslavia and China.
“Operation Hadal” might add some contemporary technology and the technical skills of the filmmaker who made his name by directing straight action (and other genre) flicks in Hong Kong before putting himself in service of the Chinese propaganda. With little room for the nuance that would add some sense of grit and realism, the film became yet another piece of propaganda for the domestic use. However, its cinematic value declines...
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